Rivalry Week means another trophy game for the Hawkeyes and the Huskers.
We’ve talked about the match ups and results every week. Prognosticated, guessed, surmised, and even tried to use common sense to figure out what the results might be by watching and paying attention to what is happening across the college football landscape. It isn’t rocket science, but, there are some very large Hotels in a town called Las Vegas that count on people, doing what I just described, and being wrong. I’ve been wrong plenty this year. I had our very own Iowa Hawkeyes in the College Football Playoffs when the season started. The eternal optimist I guess.
Everything goes out the window with the bath water during rivalry week!
This is the time of year where fan base grudges are settled. Bragging rights are granted. Trash talk gets hip-wader deep, and memorable moments are forever etched in the annals of time. It’s what makes college football a greater game than the NFL.
Since the top four hasn’t changed this week, there is no sense discussing who landed where on Tuesday when the CFP top 25 came out. The last team on the outside looking in that I was touting as a contender, Louisville, made it clear they were more of a pretender.
While Iowa fans generally have their big rivalry game during the 2nd or 3rd week of the season when they face Iowa State, many schools are the last week of the season. Let’s look at a few of the big ones this week:
Michigan vs Ohio State. This game is #2 vs #3. The outcome will have a ripple affect across the college football playoff landscape that will be felt from Florida to Pennsylvania to Washington. If Michigan wins, they are the East Champions and Coach Harbaugh will likely be named the Emperor of Ann Arbor. If OSU wins, everyone in Michigan will be willing to sell prime lake front property for the simple secret of how he beats Michigan (and everyone else) for the 5th straight time. Amazingly, I don’t care who wins this game. So many other fans do, but it has no bearing on me, so I will just sit back and watch the tumultuous finish.
The Apple Cup, featuring Washington vs Washington State. This one would have been incredibly interesting if Wazzu hadn’t lost last weekend. As it is, this will still determine the North Champion. The 18 wins between Washington and Washington State are the most combined wins since the Apple Cup began. If Washington wants a shot at being one of the four, they must win this one. Our friends in the Northwest are extremely verbose when explaining who, and why, their team will win. If the Pac-12 wants a representative in the playoff picture, Washington needs to handle the Leach led Cougs.
The Iron Bowl pits Auburn vs Alabama. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Auburn isn’t going to have a 109 yard kick return for a touchdown that determines the outcome of the game. Did you know that this is the ninth straight Iron Bowl where one of the two participants have been ranked #1 or #2? Eight of those years it has been Alabama. The year it wasn’t, Auburn won the national championship. If Bama wins, they were supposed to. If Auburn wins, the CFP committee will have an even bigger job of deciding where Bama sits, along with the rest of the top four.
Florida vs Florida State actually has playoff implications as long as Florida wins. This is always a big game, regardless of the circumstances. But, If Florida, which sits at #15 in the CFP, can win out….beating FSU and Bama, they are in the 2 loss team discussion, along with Wisconsin, Penn State, Oklahoma, and either Michigan or OSU. Florida’s realistic chances are pretty close to zero, but like I always say, just win, the rest takes care of itself.
Oklahoma State vs Oklahoma means something when both teams are in the top 10. Listening to Oklahoma fans this week down here in the south has been, at best, nauseating. Oklahoma State fans remind me a little of Cyclone fans………..their big brother gets all the attention while they scramble for the media scraps. But, like Iowa and Iowa State fans, you are either one, or the other. There isn’t any in-between! If Oklahoma wins, they have the best shot at sneaking in the back door, but I don’t think it will happen. They were drubbed by OSU and Houston. They will need a lot of help to get final spot consideration. If Okie State wins, they get bragging rights and a nice bowl game.
Can we talk about the vehement hate that exists between Nebraska and Iowa fans. They think we are irrelevant on a college football level. We know they are a group of fans that are living in the distant past on the accomplishments of teams that were of questionable character, at best. To say these two groups don’t care much for each other would be an understatement. Okay, honestly, if Iowa had the National Championship pedigree that Nebraska has, we’d be the verbose eastern version of them. Tomorrow’s game is the 47th meeting between the two schools. Nebraska leads the series 29-14-3. Can that possibly be right? 47 meetings? Doesn’t matter…………..Hawks win.
There are a ton of other great games this weekend that are either border wars or in state agrarian grudge matches. Louisville vs Kentucky, USC vs Notre Dame, Utah vs Colorado, Virginia vs VaTech, NC State vs North Carolina and Mississippi State vs Mississippi in The Grove!
If you thought week #1 was good, week #12 won’t disappoint anyone!
Couple quick notes about the recent revelations on the recruiting front that once again originated in Texas. Having seen a couple of these guys play, I was not surprised that they changed their minds. At least they did it now, and not the first week of February! The Iowa offense hasn’t exactly been overly impressive and if you think these kids don’t see that, probably should think again. The recruiting policy has been discussed to the point of nausea. Tom’s article had a good point, make a couple minor changes to the policy and embrace the in-season official recruiting visits. Spend extra time with those guys. Do it early, do it late, find time to give them the attention they deserve. And for crying out loud, get an early signing period in place. While it would potentially create other problems for the schools and the NCAA, it would eliminate some of the drama that comes with the aggravatingly long, year round, recruiting season.
Last thing, Iowa’s offense is still failing to produce desired results. That is also something that needs fixed. On the other hand, Iowa’s defense, led by the astute middle linebacker from Decorah, has decided they are better than that incredibly bad performance against Penn State. Should we consider that an anomaly? Probably not, but I think it’s obvious, that this side of the ball has flipped a switch and has really come to play the last few weeks. Refreshing and a definite positive, for sure.
Happy Thanksgiving Hawkeye Report. Hope you are all enjoying your day.
